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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26739316">to the cloud and the cold</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/suspendrs/pseuds/suspendrs'>suspendrs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Direction (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fairies, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Seasonal Fairies, That's it, i guess, just silly fairies doing silly things, um</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:40:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,501</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26739316</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/suspendrs/pseuds/suspendrs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>The last day of his season isn’t the only thing he has to look forward to on the autumn equinox; as melancholic as he might feel, floating through the chilly morning, brushing his fingertips along the edges of the flower petals to remind them that it’s time to close up for the year, he’s also careful to keep an eye out for any early mushrooms hidden away in the tall grass. Toadstools, in particular, only ever mean good things, and he feels like he’s been waiting all summer long to lay eyes on such an omen.</em>
</p><p>Or, Louis is a Summer Fairy, Harry is an Autumn Fairy, and the autumn equinox is the best day of the year.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>94</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>to the cloud and the cold</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>idk what this is or where it came from i wrote it last night in like under three hours and now it exists so?? cool???</p><p>i know nothing about fairies. i made this all up. title is from Wasteland, Baby! by hozier.</p><p>please do not translate, repost, or recreate this work in any way. thank you!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The air is crisp this early in the morning, the sun only just seeping across the sky. It’ll warm up later on, when the sun has had more time to shine down on the land, but right now, Louis’s wings feel like little more than a thin sheet of frost, shivering slightly as they carry him above the wilting flowers. </p><p>Autumn is always hard to watch approach, seeing all of the blooms and bugs he’s worked so hard to keep safe and healthy for the past few months begin to succumb to the colder weather. It’s nice, in a way, to know that the work he’s put in was good enough to keep the world so green and lush straight through to the autumn equinox, and as a reward, he gets the next nine or so months to relax, now that all of his work is done. He’s a Summer Fairy, in charge of all things that thrive in warmer weather, but for the rest of the year, the only thing he has to take care of is himself.</p><p>The last day of his season isn’t the only thing he has to look forward to on the autumn equinox; as melancholic as he might feel, floating through the chilly morning, brushing his fingertips along the edges of the flower petals to remind them that it’s time to close up for the year, he’s also careful to keep an eye out for any early mushrooms hidden away in the tall grass. Toadstools, in particular, only ever mean good things, and he feels like he’s been waiting all summer long to lay eyes on such an omen.</p><p>It isn’t until later in the morning, after he’s returned to ground level after telling all of the birds he could find up in the trees that it’s time to start heading south, that Louis spots the first mushroom. He abandons the flower he’s working on and drops down to hover lower, his newly-warm wings fluttering fast enough to rustle the grass around him as he peaks under the tiny toadstool that’s just sprouted.</p><p>There’s nothing there. Louis pouts and pushes himself up to sit on top of the toadstool, looking out over the field for another. He spots it after a moment’s search, the warm red hint of a mushroom cap, and zips over to inspect under that one, as well. To his dismay, this mushroom shelters no creature, either, nor does the one he spots next. He’s about to give up the chase and return to his flowers when he sees another mushroom sprout from the ground at the edge of his sight, and he makes a beeline in that direction before the culprit can get away.</p><p>He catches the Autumn Fairy around the waist from behind, dragging him down to earth to tumble through the grass. Harry shrieks, but he doesn’t fight back, already grinning when they roll to a stop and Louis scrambles up on top of him.</p><p>Harry reaches up without a second’s hesitation, curling his cold hands around the back of Louis’s neck and pulling him close enough to kiss. Louis goes willingly, burying his hands under the soft sweater Harry’s got on, like it’s November instead of September. Louis missed him so much, his comfy sweaters, his sweet kisses, his breathless giggles as he pulls away from Louis’s lips to tut at him.</p><p>“You almost broke my wing,” he says, but he doesn’t sound upset, and he doesn’t look it, either.</p><p>“Sorry,” Louis grins, kissing him once more. “Got a little too excited.”</p><p>Harry touches his face, his hair, trailing his fingers over Louis’s shoulders and down his arms, back up and over his wings, like he’s making sure that he’s real. “Gosh,” he says, “I think about you every single day, and yet somehow you are always even prettier than I remember you, every time I see you.”</p><p>“I missed you,” Louis says, peppering kisses over every bit of Harry’s face that he can reach, and then his lips a few too many times.</p><p>“I missed you more,” Harry says, getting his arms around Louis’s shoulders and holding him tight, stilling him as much as he can. Louis settles, and Harry kisses him sweetly once more, pressing a summertime’s worth of love into Louis’s lips. “You did a wonderful job,” he says upon pulling away, nodding toward the flowers towering above them. “It’s so sad to see it all closing up.”</p><p>“You’ll make it just as beautiful for fall,” Louis says, pulling himself out of Harry’s arms and pushing up to hover above him. “Come here, I want to show you something.”</p><p>“Let me do just a few more mushrooms,” Harry says, but he doesn’t resist when Louis takes his hand. “I should really—”</p><p>“You have all season to do mushrooms,” Louis says, tugging him gently out of the grass. “You only have me for today.”</p><p>Harry loses whatever argument he had left at that, letting Louis lead him out of the flower patch and toward the edge of the forest. The land depresses near the treeline into a beautiful, peaceful pond, and it’s still lush with blooming lily pads, dotting the surface like blotches of clouds against a clear sky.</p><p>“Oh,” Harry breathes, pulling Louis to a halt at the edge of the pond. “It’s <em>beautiful</em>.”</p><p>“I made a deal with the frogs,” Louis says, tugging Harry along to the biggest flower available, toward the center of the pond. “They’ll give us a little while alone.”</p><p>Harry grins, and Louis pushes him down gently inside the water lily until Harry’s cradled securely in the center. Louis runs his hands along the edges of the petals, encouraging them to curl closed around himself and Harry, cocooning the two of them inside of the flower.</p><p>“Wow,” Harry says, tipping his head back to watch the flower shield them from the world. The sunlight streaming in through the petals makes everything glow pink, and Louis tucks himself into Harry’s chest, content to stay just like this for the rest of time.</p><p>Harry holds him tight, digging his face into Louis’s neck just to leave soft, sweet kisses against his skin. The scent of the water lily is overwhelming, but it somehow doesn’t drown out the scent of Harry, warm and spicy like cinnamon and campfire smoke. It’s Louis’s favorite scent in the world, better than all of the flowers in the field combined, and he hasn’t been able to indulge in so, so long. </p><p>“How was your summer?” Harry asks, trailing his fingers up and down Louis’s spine, between his wings.</p><p>“Long,” Louis murmurs into the crook of Harry’s neck. “Hot. Got into a fight with a rabbit because she wouldn’t stop eating the flowers I was trying to grow.”</p><p>Harry snorts, shaking his head. “You know that’s the point, right? Your specialty is flowers, which you grow for animals to snack on.”</p><p>“It’s not fair,” Louis mumbles. “Your specialty is mushrooms, how would you feel if some giant rabbit started following you around, chowing down all of the mushrooms you were trying to sprout?”</p><p>“I’d sprout more, so they wouldn’t have to follow me all over,” Harry says. </p><p>Louis <em>hmphs</em>, biting at Harry’s shoulder. “Whatever,” he says.</p><p>“You know,” Harry says, “I was thinking—” he cuts off suddenly, falling silent for a moment. Louis frowns, glancing up at him, only to find Harry’s face twisted in what appears to be pain.</p><p>He ducks just in time, and Harry sneezes into his hair, his entire body jolting under Louis and rocking the lily pad in the water. Louis laughs, sitting up a little to grimace playfully at Harry.</p><p>“Gross,” he says.</p><p>“Sorry,” Harry says, rubbing at his nose with the back of his hand. “Pollen.”</p><p>“I forgot you were so allergic to pollen,” Louis says, amused. “Maybe inside of a flower wasn’t the best place for our reunion cuddle.”</p><p>“I think you just like my—” Harry cuts off to sneeze again, “—sneeze.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s it,” Louis says, tapping the seam of the petals over his head to prompt them to open up again. Harry sneezes twice more before the flower opens fully, and when Louis pulls him out and back up into the air, Harry gives one final, almighty sneeze, knocking himself right out of the air and tumbling down onto a lily pad.</p><p>Louis goes after him, laughing, as Harry rolls ass over teakettle toward the edge of the lily pad. Louis stops him just in time, and Harry looks up at him, shocked, as if he sneezed himself completely silly.</p><p>“Alright, mushroom boy,” Louis says, taking both of Harry’s hands and pulling him gently back up into the air. “Let’s get back to work.”</p><p>Harry whines softly, pulling Louis close again. “No,” he says, pouting like a child. “Don’t leave me yet.”</p><p>“I’m not leaving, silly,” Louis says. “Come on!”</p><p>He tugs Harry back through the reeds at the edge of the pond and into the grove, touching a few flowers on his way to close them up. They don’t let go of each other for the rest of the day, staying hand in hand as they complete their tasks; for every flower Louis closes, Harry sprouts a mushroom, and for every bee Louis sends to warn his hive of the incoming fall, Harry turns a couple of leaves the bright, brilliant colors of autumn. </p><p>By the time the sun begins to set, the world is just about ready to begin the beautiful transition into fall, and Louis’s work is just about finished. He lingers a little, as the sky turns orange overhead, checking every last flower while Harry follows him around like deadweight, getting mopey as the sky grows dim.</p><p>“I don’t want you to leave,” Harry says, once they’re both aware of the fact that summer is officially over, and Louis has nothing left to do.</p><p>Louis kisses him sweetly, giving him the warmest smile he can muster. “It’s your time to shine now, my love,” he says. </p><p>“But I miss you so much when you’re not with me,” Harry says.</p><p>“As do I, my darling,” Louis says, pulling Harry close enough to kiss him gently. “But I’ll see you soon.”</p><p>“Not soon enough,” Harry pouts.</p><p>“Aren’t you excited for autumn?” Louis asks. “You look forward to it all year!”</p><p>“Yes,” Harry admits, “but I’m more excited for winter,” he says.</p><p>Louis grins, pulling his hands away from Harry’s to do one more lap around the field, to take one last look at the world before he sleeps. Harry follows him, but not too close, settling down atop a wide mushroom and waiting for Louis to come back to him. </p><p>“I’ll see you in December, darling,” Louis says, plopping down right on top of Harry on the mushroom and kissing him once, twice, three times more. “And then you won’t be rid of me until June.”</p><p>Harry hums, wrapping his arms around Louis’s waist and squeezing him tight. “I can’t wait,” he murmurs into Louis’s chest.</p><p>Louis drops one last kiss to the top of Harry’s head, and Harry finally lets him go, letting Louis push off to hover above him. Harry gives him a sad sort of smile, but he turns away before either of them can give in and start clinging again, zipping up into the trees to change more leaves. Louis watches him go, tracking him through the trail of yellow and orange he’s leaving against the sky, and once it’s almost too dark to see, he finally makes his way into the trees to find his way home.</p><p>There’s a particularly large tree in the center of the grove, with a small knot near the bottom of the trunk. Louis floats in lazily, exhaustion settling into his bones already, and finds himself in the hidden, magical forest, where all of the other fairies live. Most of the other summer fairies are already home, settling in to sleep through the autumn with their loved ones, those of them who have them. Most of the others stick to their own kind, so they can be together always, but Louis didn’t get so lucky, falling in love with the most gorgeous autumn fairy in their neck of the grove. He wouldn’t trade it for the world, though, wouldn’t change a thing about Harry or himself, except that Harry might come home on these chilly autumn nights and keep him warm while he falls asleep.</p><p>He loves his job as a summer fairy, loves it more than anything in the world, but there’s something absolutely unmatched about the little home he shares with Harry, their own little piece of the universe. It’s not much more than a nest, really, but it’s perfect, decorated impeccably with a perfect mixture of their lives. Louis keeps a small selection of live, miniature flowers, and they’ve wilted a bit under Harry’s care, but it’s nothing a few days’ time and a little proper love won’t fix. Harry’s got his own collection of mushrooms and moss that Louis will have to tend to for the next few months, but he loves the work; it makes him feel closer to Harry, taking care of his little creations, and until he can have his baby back in full, this will just have to do.</p><p>He wastes no time, once he gets home, in wrapping himself in every blanket he owns, settling down into bed to begin the resting period that will sustain him for the rest of the year. It’s so hard to sleep without Harry, without someone to hold him and hum in his ear, and though the blankets smell exactly like the scent Harry carries on his skin, it’s nowhere near enough for him to even pretend that Harry is close.</p><p>He lies awake for a little while, counting down the days in his head until the winter solstice, when Harry will finally come back to him for the entirety of winter and spring. They’ll hibernate together, then, until the summer solstice comes around again, and Louis goes back into the world to maintain the summer season. Those six months they get together, just Louis and his baby, are the best in the world; he already misses Harry terribly, despite having just spent the entire day with him, and all he’s got left to look forward to now is winter, when Harry will come back and hold him through the night just in time for the real cold weather to settle in over the grove. </p><p>For now, though, he’ll have to make do with what he has. He burrows his face as deep into the blankets as he can get without suffocating himself, focusing on the scent of Harry leftover in the bed until he starts to drift off to sleep. It doesn’t take long, unsurprisingly, given the exhaustion that’s settled all the way down to the marrow in his bones; maybe the autumn won’t seem quite so long, after all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>if you liked the fic, you can reblog it <a href="https://suspendrs.tumblr.com/post/630729147880259584/to-the-cloud-and-the-cold-by-suspendrs-2k-the">here</a>. (you can also subscribe to it at the top of the page, in case i ever get the urge to add to it.)</p><p>please do not translate, repost, or recreate this work in any way. thank you!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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